


The Tales That Really Matter

by JimmyPenguin421



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Episode: s07e12 Victory and Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:55:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28105086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JimmyPenguin421/pseuds/JimmyPenguin421
Summary: After the cruiser crashes, Ahsoka and Rex recieve a visit from someone not of their world.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	The Tales That Really Matter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ruby_Silverstar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruby_Silverstar/gifts).



> Thanks to Ruby Silverstar for inspiring this oneshot, letting me use her OC, and helping me edit!

The moon was a cold and empty place.

That wasn't necessarily bad. It was almost pleasant. For a moment, all the pain of the past few days was almost numb, and she could almost believe there was no war, no Empire.

But then her eyes flitted up to the broken wreckage, and reality hit her as hard as the cruiser hit the moon, crushing the once-pristine snow and leaving a scarred gash across the landscape.

She wanted to look away, but there was nowhere to look away, the fractured pieces were all around her, and even if there was somewhere away from all this, she didn't think she could pull herself away. She couldn't stop her eyes from roaming over what was left of the familiar cruiser, the rows and rows of helmets marking the graves of those who had been her friends, even if in the end they were forced to be otherwise.

It had broken her heart to have to fight the clones. She had tried not to kill them, but she knew that some of the men had been killed by their own bolts, deflected in self-defense.

And when the cruiser crashed, even more had died.

They had found every man they could, digging graves for each one and making sure that every man's grave was marked with his own helmet.

There had been so many graves to dig.

Ahsoka hadn't minded the work, because as long as there was the burning friction of the shovel against her palms and the ache of her muscles as she lifted dirt and snow, she didn't have to feel anything else.

But it was finished now, though, and so she stood here, alone, with nothing to distract her, nothing to look at but the graves of those who had died being controlled like the droids so many saw them as.

She shivered, shrinking into her cloak to try and preserve what little warmth lingered around her.

Under the gray fabric, her hand clenched tightly around the cold metal of her lightsaber. It was too dangerous to carry it. It marked her as a Jedi. She had to leave it behind.

But, try as she might, she couldn't let it go without one last look.

She held it out from under her cloak.

Memories of times long gone came back, nostalgia surging painfully through her heart as she looked down at the lightsaber she had built as a youngling, the lightsaber she had carried during her first mission, the lightsaber she had lost and found again countless times, the lightsaber that Anakin had kept and taken care of for her, holding onto the hope that she would someday come back.

She was too late.

What had happened to him?

He wasn't dead, she knew that deep inside. But then where was he? Why couldn't she sense him? Somehow that was even more frightening than if he had died.

She looked down at her lightsaber again, running her fingers over the familiar edges and curves.

This was the one little piece of her world that hadn't fallen apart, and she wanted so badly to keep it. Anakin had kept it for her, and she wanted to keep it as a reminder of how much he cared.

But she couldn't, she had to let it go, just like everything else.

The lightsaber—her lightsaber—hit the ground with a _click._

Her eyes burned, little beacons of heat against the frigid air of the moon, and she squeezed them shut, tears pushing out and searing burning little streaks down her face that quickly turned cold.

Footsteps came up behind her—Rex, she knew. He let out a shuddering sigh, his own tears evident in the sound.

She wanted to help, talk to him, make him feel better, do something, but she didn't know how to help him if she couldn't even help herself.

"Ahsoka and Rex, yes?"

The lilting, musical voice came from behind them. Years of fight-or-flight kicked in and in unison, they whirled around to face the owner.

She was a young woman, maybe about Ahsoka's age, maybe a little older. Her hair was drawn into a messy braid, gold and auburn streaks twisting around each other and falling over the brown fur-lined cloak covering her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," she said, giving them a small, friendly smile. She unpinned her cloak, folding it neatly and set it down on the ground, not seeming bothered by the freezing air or the snow against her bare feet.

Underneath the cloak, she wore a dark green long-sleeved dress with a brown leather belt. She looked like she would've been more at home in a forest than on this cold, empty moon. But somehow she fit perfectly here too.

"Who are you?" Rex demanded.

"I am Empress Silverstar," the woman said.

Empress?

Ahsoka reached out in the Force for her lightsaber. It looked like she would have to use it one more time.

The woman gave a soft laugh. "Oh it's all right, little one. I couldn't hurt you even if I wanted to. But if it makes you feel more comfortable." She extended a graceful hand and Ahsoka's lightsaber flew lightly into her grasp. Her eyes twinkled as she turned the weapon in her hands and held it out to its owner, pommel first.

Ahsoka looked warily at her and reached into the Force again.

There was no sense of danger, just… emptiness, the same emptiness that had been there since Order 66.

It didn't feel that way around the Empress herself. Not… empty, exactly, but there was something strange in the way the Force flowed and bent around her. There was a soft pulsing light about her that wasn't the Force. Whatever she was, she wasn't human. And she wasn't natural.

Ahsoka reached out and took the lightsaber back. "What is it you're the Empress of?"

The Empress took a step closer, hazel eyes meeting Ahsoka's. "No kingdom you can find." One hand went to her belt, brushing over a worn notebook with silver clasps. "I am known as the Empress, yes, but my name is Ruby. I am the guardian of stories and the people who tell them. The secret heroes, the side characters. People like you, who struggle and strive, but don't always get a happy ending. And…" she looked past Ahsoka and Rex, "…people like them."

She stepped silently forward, between Ahsoka and Rex, toward the graves of the clones. Her voice was barely above a whisper. "Those I am too late to save."

A breeze blew past, whipping Ahsoka's cloak about her, and she shivered. But Ruby didn't move. Not even her dress stirred in the wind.

When she turned around again, there were glittering silver tears dripping down her cheeks. "I see so much death, so many twisted, broken hearts. I can see all of them, what they could have had, but…" her head bowed slightly, "it is a rare chance I get to save someone."

Ahsoka and Rex exchanged a glance.

"I was there," Ruby said quietly, looking up at Ahsoka. "Outside the Temple the day it was bombed. I was too late to save Barriss."

 _Could_ Barriss have been saved? If only Ahsoka had done something?

If she'd been a better friend, maybe she could've helped Barriss. Helped herself.

…Helped Anakin.

"And perhaps…" Ruby paused, then slowly shook her head. "But things are as they are, and all we can do is to move forward." She looked up again, her eyes shining in the setting sun. "I hope I can help save you."

Ahsoka frowned. "Save me from what?"

Another chilling wind blew. Ruby's dress fluttered, and a few stray wisps of hair fell across her face. She seemed for the first time to notice the cold, shivering slightly as she walked past Ahsoka and Rex again.

"I… don't know," she sighed. "I can't see that. I only see what I need to see." Her hand brushed over her book again.

She reached down for her cloak and pinned it back around her shoulders. "There is much darkness in your future. In both your futures."

Ahsoka didn't doubt that.

"The Empire will never stop hunting you. It will beat you down and make you hurt for every moment you keep living. You will feel hopeless." Ruby laid one hand on Rex's shoulder, one on Ahsoka's, gazing intently at each of them in turn. Her eyes sparkled with resolve. "But it will end. You will win. No matter how many long years it takes, don't. Stop. Fighting." Her head tilted downward for a moment, as if she were contemplating something, and then she met their eyes again. "Never give up. Fight for the good in this world. Finish the race. Because, in the end…" She gave them a small smile. "Things will be right again."

The Force pulsed in agreement, and Ahsoka suddenly found herself at a loss for words.

Ruby squeezed her shoulder gently, then let go and stepped back. She smiled at them one more time. "Goodbye, Ahsoka and Rex."

Ahsoka's throat felt tight, but she managed a nod.

Ruby nodded back, then turned and began walking away through the snow.

She left no footprints.

A glint of light flashed across Ahsoka's vision and it could have simply been the sun through a break in the clouds, but when it faded, Ruby was gone, except for the fading sense of comfort in the Force.


End file.
